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In this study I investigate the factors that may influence consumer preference and choice in China’s home interior decoration industry. With the fast development of information technology such as the internet in China, it becomes increasingly important to have a more precise understanding of consumer preference and choice in home interior decoration decisions so that companies in this industry can provide better services to meet customer needs. Using survey data from a sample of potential customers and a sample of existing customers of a large home interior decoration company, I find that (1) internet has become the mostly used channel by consumers to gather information about home interior decoration, (2) design style is the most influential factor in consumers’ choice of home interior decoration company, and (3) consumers are more likely to choose home interior decoration companies to provide full services when they are between 35 to 45 years old or above 55 years old, when it is the first time for them to purchase a real estate property, and when they are located in the Eastern region of China. Findings of this study can help home interior decoration companies better understand customer needs and preferences, facilitate changes in their marketing and sales strategies, and consequently strengthen their competitive advantage．
ContributorsYang, Jin (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Anmin (Committee member) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
In this thesis I examine the opportunities and challenges faced by the community banks in China. Rooted in the local communities, community banks generally focus on serving the local residents, farmers, and micro and small business enterprises (MSBE) through relationship building. Although community banks tend to be small relative to the other financial institutions, their unique market positions and business strategies have helped them to survive the competition and secure some market shares. Thus, it is important to understand the business strategies of community banks and to explore their future business opportunities and challenges.
I first provide a brief overview about the importance of local communities, community economy, and community banking, on the basis of an analysis about mismatch in the demand and supply of community financial services due to information asymmetry. Next, I review and analyze how commercial banks have utilized different types of information in their operations. I classify the information used by commercial banks into different categories and discuss their importance to the operations of commercial banks. After that, I conduct a case analysis to illustrate the role of non-financial information in the development of community banks’ business strategy. I conclude this thesis with a discussion of how community banks can better utilize data analysis to develop their core competencies in the era of “Big Data”.
I first provide a brief overview about the importance of local communities, community economy, and community banking, on the basis of an analysis about mismatch in the demand and supply of community financial services due to information asymmetry. Next, I review and analyze how commercial banks have utilized different types of information in their operations. I classify the information used by commercial banks into different categories and discuss their importance to the operations of commercial banks. After that, I conduct a case analysis to illustrate the role of non-financial information in the development of community banks’ business strategy. I conclude this thesis with a discussion of how community banks can better utilize data analysis to develop their core competencies in the era of “Big Data”.
ContributorsHou, Funing (Author) / Li, Feng (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Jiang (Thesis advisor) / Gu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The current study combines field study, survey study, and public financial reports, and conducts an in-depths comprehensive study of the cost of the global tire industry. By comparing the price and the total cost structure of standardized tire products, we investigate Chinese tire industry’s global competitiveness, especially in light of China’s fast increasing labor cost. By constructing a comprehensive cost index (CCI), this dissertation estimates the evolution and forecasts the trend of global tire industry’s cost structure. Based on our empirical analysis, we provide various recommendations for Chinese tire manufacturers, other manufacturing industries, and foreign trade policy makers.
ContributorsZhang, Ning (Author) / Zhu, Ning (Thesis advisor) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Hong (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
In this study I investigate the organizational strategies that Chinese power generation companies may use to reduce the impact of coal price increases on their profits. Organizations are open systems in that no organization possesses all the resources that it needs and all organizations must obtain resources from their external environments in order to survive. Resource dependent theory suggests that the most important goal of an organization is to find effective mechanisms to cope with its dependence on the external environments for resources that are critical to its survival. Chinese power generation companies traditionally rely heavily on coal as their raw materials, and an increase in coal price can have a significant negative impact on their profits. To address this issue, I first provide a systematic review of the resource dependence theory and research, with a focus on the strategies such as vertical integration, diversification, and hedging that organizations can undertake to reduce their dependence on the external environment as well as their respective benefits and costs. Next, I conduct a qualitative case analysis of the primary strategies the largest Chinese power generation companies have used to reduce their dependence on coal. I then explore a new approach that Chinese power generation companies may use to cope with increases in coal price, namely, by investing in an index of coal companies in the stock market. My regression analysis shows that coal price has a strong positive relation with the price of the coal company index. This finding suggests that it is possible for firms to reduce the negative impact of raw material price increase on their profits by investing in a stock market index of the companies that supply the raw materials that they depend on.
ContributorsSun, Min (Author) / Shen, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Jun (Committee member) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
There has been much debate in the world of academia over the valuation of conglomerates. This thesis proposes the use of the EVA theory in explaining fluctuations in conglomerates’ valuation, and we believe that ROIC, WACC, and ROIC-WACC are three indicators that to a certain extent explain these valuation fluctuations. Through analysis of a sample containing 23 conglomerates, this thesis finds that ROIC, WACC, and ROIC-WACC exhibit positive correlation with valuation fluctuations. In the case study on Fosun, this thesis finds that ROIC-WACC is highly correlated with Fosun’s valuation fluctuations and next with ROIC. Thus this thesis conjectures that for investment companies for which investment capital is derived largely from insurance float, such as Fosun, ROIC-WACC is a better valuation tool.
ContributorsLiang, Xinjun (Author) / Chen, Hong (Thesis advisor) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Zhu, Ning (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
In this study I investigate the organizational mechanisms (pathways) through which strategic investors can help a firm improve performance. Many commercial banks in China have recently invited foreign banks as strategic investors since China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), hoping to gain managerial and technological knowhow from the foreign banks. Using Shanghai Pudong Development Bank as a representative example, I conduct an in-depth qualitative analysis about how the joining of Citi Bank as a strategic investor has helped the local Chinese bank improve its financial performance. On the basis of a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, I first develop a theoretical model that describes the organizational mechanisms (pathways) through which foreign strategic investors can influence the local bank’s performance. Specifically, by participation in corporate governance, the foreign strategic investor can have a positive influence over the local bank’s strategy development, operational targets, incentive systems, and organizational culture, which consequently lead to improvements in the local banks operations and financial performance. I then use a case study method to substantiate the logic and the pathways of the model with the detailed information collected from the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Citi Bank strategic alliance. The results are consistent with the model’s descriptive validity.
ContributorsLiu, Xinyi (Author) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chen, Hong (Committee member) / Shen, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
With years of continuous Chinese economic growth and accelerating aging population, better serving the changing demands in wealth management has become the new market development directions. As evidenced in international experiences, the embedded nature of privacy and isolation of managed assets in the trust business have demonstrated built-in consistency with the needs of high-end wealth management and inheritance; hence, trust has become a very fitting vehicle for wealth management. By 2014, total assets under trust management have reached RMB14trillion.
However, there is as yet a massive gap between the current service levels received by high net worth individuals and their requirements; a gap that is adverse in establishing a stable customer service relationship; which eventually hinders the vigorous development of the overall industry.
With modeling the gaps in service levels as the basic foundation, this paper first and foremost starts with the discussion on the issues in listening to service needs. This paper conducted customer surveys in such categories as customer expected and perceived service quality, service level design and standards, service provided in accordance with the design, and service commitment actually fulfilled. By correlation and regression analyses, this paper analyzed the characteristics of high net worth population, concluding that high net worth individuals with different gender, profession, age exhibit varying needs, preferences and other determining factors in wealth management.
This Paper has designed wealth management service standards and value-added asset allocation systems; the Paper has structured a systematic and disciplined framework in wealth management, which serves as a guideline in the implementation of leading wealth management and in the establishment of superior trust management services. It serves as an impetus for the trust industry to thrive as the leader in China’s wealth management domain, enhance industry brand image, accumulate stable customer segments and develop sustainable market core competencies.
However, there is as yet a massive gap between the current service levels received by high net worth individuals and their requirements; a gap that is adverse in establishing a stable customer service relationship; which eventually hinders the vigorous development of the overall industry.
With modeling the gaps in service levels as the basic foundation, this paper first and foremost starts with the discussion on the issues in listening to service needs. This paper conducted customer surveys in such categories as customer expected and perceived service quality, service level design and standards, service provided in accordance with the design, and service commitment actually fulfilled. By correlation and regression analyses, this paper analyzed the characteristics of high net worth population, concluding that high net worth individuals with different gender, profession, age exhibit varying needs, preferences and other determining factors in wealth management.
This Paper has designed wealth management service standards and value-added asset allocation systems; the Paper has structured a systematic and disciplined framework in wealth management, which serves as a guideline in the implementation of leading wealth management and in the establishment of superior trust management services. It serves as an impetus for the trust industry to thrive as the leader in China’s wealth management domain, enhance industry brand image, accumulate stable customer segments and develop sustainable market core competencies.
ContributorsZhao, Nuan (Author) / Wang, Jiang (Thesis advisor) / Gu, Bin (Thesis advisor) / Chang, Chun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The key chanllenge for Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) to get credit or loans is the fact that traditional financing business model in commercial banks cannot meet SMEs’ financial needs. Through extensive theoretical research, market analysis especially on SMEs’ behavioral characteristics and demands, serveral case studies on market-leading banks such as Wells Fargo and KASIKORN BANK, and the actual implementation experiences in China Minsheng Bank and Pingan Bank, this article proposes a new business model for servicing SMEs for commercial banks in China, which includes the principle and rationale of the business model, the technical foundation, business process and organizational structure, as well as the future transition of the model.
ContributorsZhao, Jichen (Author) / Chen, Hong (Thesis advisor) / Pei, Ker-Wei (Thesis advisor) / Chang, Chun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The Vimalakirti Sutra is one of the classics of early Indian Mahayana Buddhism. The sutra narrates that Vimalakirti, an enlightened layman, once made it appear as if he were sick so that he could demonstrate the Law of Mahayana Buddhism to various figures coming to inquire about his illness. This dissertation studies representations of The Vimalakirti Sutra in Chinese painting from the fourth to the nineteenth centuries to explore how visualizations of the same text could vary in different periods of time in light of specific artistic, social and religious contexts. In this project, about forty artists who have been recorded representing the sutra in traditional Chinese art criticism and catalogues are identified and discussed in a single study for the first time. A parallel study of recorded paintings and some extant ones of the same period includes six aspects: text content represented, mode of representation, iconography, geographical location, format, and identity of the painter. This systematic examination reveals that two main representational modes have formed in the Six Dynasties period (220-589): depictions of the Great Layman as a single image created by Gu Kaizhi, and narrative illustrations of the sutra initiated by Yuan Qian and his teacher Lu Tanwei. The latter mode, which became more popular than the former in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), experienced adaptation from handscroll to panoramic mural. It is also during this period that a minor scenario, the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers, became a necessary vignette for representation of the sutra. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers gradually became an independent theme. This author investigates the thematic shift caused by various factors. These include the transformation of later Chinese narrative painting and the prevalence of shinu hua 仕女畫, painting of beauties, in later Chinese painting. There is also a change in the role of the Heavenly Maiden from one of many maidens to the only and necessary partner of Vimalakirti. Ultimately, the image of the Heavenly Maiden evolves from a Buddhist heavenly being to a Daoist fairy and later to a symbol representing auspicious meanings.
ContributorsLiu, Chen (Author) / Brown, Claudia (Thesis advisor) / Chou, Ju-hsi (Committee member) / Wu, Jiang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Biophysics, rockets, and the state: the making of a scientific discipline in twentieth-century China
Description
This study takes biophysics--a relatively new field with complex origins and contested definitions--as the research focus and investigates the history of disciplinary formation in twentieth-century China. The story of building a scientific discipline in modern China illustrates how a science specialty evolved from an ambiguous and amorphous field into a full-fledged academic discipline in specific socio-institutional contexts. It focuses on archival sources and historical writings concerning the constitution and definition of biophysics in order to examine the relationship between particular scientific styles, national priorities, and institutional opportunities in the People's Republic of China. It argues that Chinese biophysicists exhibited a different style of conceiving and organizing their discipline by adapting to the institutional structure and political economy that had been created since 1949. The eight chapters demonstrate that biophysics as a scientific discipline flourished in China only where priorities of science were congruent with political and institutional imperatives. Initially consisting of cell biologists, the Chinese biophysics community redirected their disciplinary priorities toward rocket science in the late 1950s to accommodate the national need of the time. Biophysicists who had worked on biological sounding rockets were drawn to the military sector and continued to contribute to human spaceflight in post-Mao China. Besides the rocket-and-space missions which provided the material context for biophysics to expand in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Chinese biophysicists also created research and educational programs surrounding biophysics by exploiting the institutional opportunities afforded by the policy emphasis on science's role to drive modernization. Biophysics' tie to nationalistic and utilitarian goals highlights the merits of approaching modern Chinese history from disciplinary, material, and institutional perspectives.
ContributorsLuk, Yi Lai Christine (Author) / Koblitz, Ann Hibner (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane A (Committee member) / Tillman, Hoyt C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014